


Blind Spot

by imaginationoverload97



Category: The Magnus Archives (Podcast)
Genre: Crying Martin Blackwood, Gen, Hurt/Comfort, I'm not sorry, Season 5 Spoilers, Spoilers for The Magnus Archives Season 5, The Darkness had too much potential
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-08-12
Updated: 2020-08-12
Packaged: 2021-03-05 21:26:40
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,457
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25852072
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/imaginationoverload97/pseuds/imaginationoverload97
Summary: The Watcher is not as all powerful as it would like to believe. Even an all-seeing Eye can have problems with a deep enough Darkness.Jon is weak in the realm of the Darkness, his power diminished with the absence of the Watcher. Martin doesn't suspect a thing until its too late.
Comments: 2
Kudos: 43





	Blind Spot

They are almost out of the Dark, a fact Martin is grateful for. Ever since Jon had made his...statement, the only thing he wanted was to get to Elias, punch him in the face, then force him to tell them how to undo the apocalypse. Children was where he drew the line.

But it wasn’t just the righteous anger that fueled his desire to leave the dark empty streets behind. Jon was starting to worry him. Ever since they had arrived in this domain, he had been looking increasingly haggard, steps hastened with urgency to leave, but each one seeming to take more effort than the last. Part of the reason Martin had demanded Jon tell him about the Dark was in the vain hope that actually letting out what was building in his head would help. Much to his dismay, he found that, if anything, it made him seem more exhausted. They had been plodding onward for what seemed like hours, Martin dutifully following Jon’s lead as he was forced to watch his steps go from determined speed to the current staggering shuffle.

“Jon?” Martin breaks the silence, too worried to keep quiet any more. “Are- are you okay?”

At his name, the Archivist stops, swaying slightly in the dim light.

“J-Jon? What is it? You’re scaring me.”

Marin expects some kind of dry response alluding to fear being the point, or maybe a tired dismissal on just focusing towards getting out. Instead, his worry slides straight to panic as he watches Jon fold like a house of cards.

“Jon!”

Jon could feel it the moment they stepped into the Dark. The power of the Eye, the Watcher, the Beholding, whatever you wanted to call it, was much dimmer here. He didn’t lie to Martin when he told him that it did not find the fear of children as interesting, but children are not only afraid of the dark. It had placed them here, because the Dark had always been the most effective at blocking its power. So, it kept it fed and satisfied with those it did not care to See. Because it could not, not while Watching the rest of the domains. Jon, the Archivist and harbinger of the Eye, was cut off from the source of his power. A thin trickle remained, enough to ensure that nothing could harm them, but that was all. He chose to show Martin the avatar of the Dark, because he fervently hoped that seeing a child would cause him to reconsider before he was forced to confess that the Eye could not obliterate him with its gaze because no eye can see clearly in the realm of the Dark.

Then Martin had asked to know, to be told about this place. Of all the domains he asked for, it had to be the one that Jon really didn’t know. But he would do anything for Martin, had promised that he would. So, if Martin wanted to really understand the Dark, then he would do everything he could to tell him. He called upon the Eye to show him, and it took everything he had to pull the information that he sought. He fell into the statement, voice monotone as it always was, as he recited the horrors of children. They may be milder to hear, but they were so much more painful to feel.

Once it was done, once Martin had heard enough, Jon was exhausted. His connection to the Eye faded as if it were falling through water, just out of reach unless he was willing to dive deep to chase it. He tried desperately to keep himself from visibly trembling, exhausted from a combination of the effort of keeping the connection and being again cut off from the force that he is more and more certain is sustaining his existence. When Martin said they could go, that the children would just have to hold on a bit longer, Jon was quick to resume the path that he could just barely See through the darkness.

Each step was harder than the last. There was no way Martin could have missed his state by now. He didn’t have the energy to hide his drifting, unconsciously listing to the side, favoring his leg injury from a lifetime ago. He was  _ so tired _ . Then Martin called his name, and he stopped, waiting to hear what he needed.

Stopping was a mistake. He knew that as soon as his shuffling steps came to a halt. Darkness that he hadn’t been able to see in the corners of his vision crowded in. He vaguely heard his name again as consciousness faded.  _ Just... just need a minute. Then I... _

Martin hovered helplessly around Jon’s still form. His breathing was shallow, concerningly so. Tentatively, he shook his shoulder. As expected, Jon didn’t respond.

“Okay. Okay Martin, you can do this. Your all-powerful boyfriend just collapsed and you’re in trapped in a world of darkness, but you can do this.”

He set his pack down on the ground and pulled out a blanket that he liked to sit on when they stopped for longer breaks. Folding it carefully to keep the dirt-stained spots off the outside, he placed it under Jon’s head. Then he positioned him more comfortably and sat down next to him, humming a soft tune to try and keep the fear at bay.

Martin was scared. It had been hours, and Jon hadn’t moved once. If anything, his breathing had grown shallower and more irregular. If he didn’t know better, Martin would have said this place was draining him, but wasn’t he supposed to be the most powerful person in this new world? Well, except for Elias, but that wasn’t the point. How could anything reduce him to this state? Regardless, Martin refused to sit and watch any longer. He hovered over Jon’s prone form, desperate to end this unnatural stillness, regardless of how unnatural the world around them insisted on being.

“Jon?” He called softly, cursing himself when his voice cracked. “Jon, are you there?”

Maybe he had just imagined it, hopeful thinking and too little light, but it had looked like Jon had moved. Twitched ever so slightly, but he had responded.

“Jon? Jon please, you’re scaring me,” Marin pleaded, tears streaming down his face. “It’s not safe here, and-” a sob escaped, but he pulled himself together, “I need you. Please don’t leave me here alone.”

Finally,  _ finally _ , Jon moved. A low moan escaped as he rolled onto his back, opening his eyes with visible effort. “Martin?”

At the sound of Jon’s voice, exhausted though it may have sounded, Martin couldn’t help but to break into full shuddering sobs, the fear and terror of the past hours combining with the relief that Jon was back and overwhelming him.

“Martin? Martin, what’s wrong? Are you alright?” Jon pushed himself up with shaking arms before cupping the sobbing young man’s cheek. “Are you hurt?”

Martin surged forward, tears still flowing, and wrapped his arms around Jon’s neck. “Don’t- don’t ever scare me like that again,” he begged. “I didn’t know what happened to you, if you were dying or-or-or worse. You just  _ collapsed _ and I didn’t know what to do...”

Jon gently gathered him closer, good hand running though his curls. “I’m sorry; I am. I should have told you, should have warned you. I didn’t want to scare you.”

Martin snorted wetly. “Bit late for that.”

“Yes, yes, I know. But I told you, Seeing the future isn’t something I can do.”

They stayed like that, wrapped together on the dark street, until Martin’s sobs subsided into wet sniffs.

“Better now?” Jon asked.

Martin nodded, pulling back. “So, what happened? Why did  you... ”

“Ah, yes.” Jon sighed. “It’s the Dark. It’s... complicated, but the best way I can describe it is that it cancels out the Eye. Eyes can’t see in the dark, so the Watcher’s power is limited here. We are safe enough, but connecting to it is... difficult. It took a fair bit of effort to tell you about it. And well, the Watcher is I think what is sustaining me now. Trying to go on without it is... exhausting. It’s like going on hike when you haven’t eaten for a few days.”

Martin stood up, using his sleeves to wipe the tears from his face. “So then, let’s get out of here. You do- you do still know the way, right? We’ve not been going in circles?”

Jon struggled onto his feet, grateful for Martin’s steadying hand. “Yes, I can do that much. Just, don’t ask me to smite anybody.”

Martin giggled, and this time as they started their journey, they went hand in hand.


End file.
